Once again, many thanks for your support of the New York Year project. Even though it wasn't successful, it has led me to places I otherwise wouldn't have gone. One such place is my new and current kickstarter project on cicadas, the very same I mentioned in the last update as a possibility;

This kickstarter has been wildly successful, and the support that it has received has made it possible to be more ambitious than I thought possible as far as the final Return of the Cicadas documentary film project. It has 1 week to go, and at the least I need to get to $30,000 to make a filming trip to New Zealand possible.

For those of you interested in supporting the return of the cicadas on its own merits, your support will be welcomed and appreciated. For those that would prefer to receive some of the New York Year rewards instead, I have a few options for you. To be clear, it is unlikely that a 25 minute NYC time-lapse film will be completed within the next year. Cicadas are now my priority, and more NYC time-lapse work will be limited in scale. I do anticipate a 8-10 minute film done by spring of 2014, and I can offer that as a download/DVD/bluray along with the other short films already completed and mentioned for New York Year (as well as the appropriate level rewards for the cicada kickstarter included at no additional cost if you want them). I can also offer the archival photo prints made from NYC time-lapse sequences instead of cicadas if that's what you've been waiting for. If you already have a sequence or picture in mind, great, I can get that to you in return for the same level of support to cicadas that you gave New York Year ($150 for a 11x14, $200 for a 16x20 as well as appropriate international shipping). There will also be additional NYC pics available in the coming year, if you want to wait and see.

If you do decide to support Return of the Cicadas and receive a NYC reward, please send me a message of what your pledge level is as well as what you want with "NYC reward for Cicada pledge" in the subject line so I can keep track of this category.

I'm sure this isn't as clear as it might be. Feel free to ask for more details or followup info before supporting CIcadas if you're unsure just what I'm talking about. In the end, I want to get NYC rewards to those of you that still want them.

And regardless of whether you support the new kickstarter, thanks for supporting NY Year and getting me to where I'm at today.

Sorry for the delay getting back with possible options for those of you that still want to support New York Year, and/or the rewards you pledged for. I got back from 10 days shooting time-lapse in the city several days ago. Here's a peek at some of the raw footage;

So, even though the kickstarter was unsuccessful, I'm still tinkering away on the film, it's just going to take longer. To help me prioritize things, it will be great to hear back from those of you still interested in the project and rewards. At this point, the 4-season aspect of the project is going on the back burner a bit; to get the representative shots of an entire year, I needed the full support of the kickstarter funding. Now, I'll be grabbing a smaller selection of what I intended, at least over the next year. However, I will still be shooting material for a greatly extended version of New York Day (call it New York Seasons), one that includes much more from the non-Manhattan boroughs. This version will be 10-12 minutes, and will be done by the end of 2013. It will include material of the transition of summer to fall, and possibly winter as well. I've got a composer to work with, and I'm excited about the music that's going to be available for it.

So, here's where I need to hear back from those of you still interested in rewards. The downloads/dvd/blurays are still an option, but with the shorter New York Seasons version mentioned above, as well as the already completed shorts. There will still be bonus material available only to those of you who support the project (only about 1/4 of shot material makes it into the final project, so lots remain for the bonus content). In addition, the photographic art prints are also still an option. If you wanted a print made from pre-existing time-lapse photos, no problems. There will also be new material created through the end of the year. The only material that at this point I can't promise would be the 4-season mosaics of NYC; I'm still hoping to get some made, but b/c of the screwy spring this year, it will be well into 2014 before any of those are potentially finished.

There are a few options on how to arrange rewards for anyone still interested. Option 1 it to create a New York Year paypal account, and have you pledge at the same support level for the same rewards.

Option 2 is another kickstarter project I'm considering, but for a different film project I've been working on for a number of years. This one looks at Periodical Cicadas, the screechy insects that live underground for 17 years, and emerge all at once in a big biblical deluge. The next big group of them emerges in a few weeks in the eastern United States, and the big media outlets will be featuring them into June. A kickstater on them could get some serious attention. The requested amount for this project would be $3000-$5000 based on initial support to guarantee succes.

This option would allow you to pledge for the cicada kickstarter, but get the reward you wanted from New York Year. Since all of you already have kickstarter accounts, I thought this might be the easiest option. You'd automatically get a copy of the cicada film as well, so you'd be supporting both projects.

Please let me know in the coming week if you are interested in either option to get New York Year rewards, and help support at least some longer version of the NYC time-lapse film. If I do a kickstarter on Cicadas, it will need to launch by May 8, 2013. Please email me directly at;

motionkicker at gmail dot com

let me know what option you prefer (or if either work for you), the reward you want (including photo print option if applicable), and anything else you have questions about. I'm really unsure if just a handful will respond or a significant portion of the 200+ supporters, but I'll work with all who email me on getting you some cool time-lapse and photo prints. I'm sure I've forgotten something, feel free to post comments on this update and I'll answer questions here as well.

Things were building last week and earlier this week for the higher pledge levels, but I just couldn't lock down enough in time. It was a close thing. If I had another week to 10 days I think it would have happened.

Now what? First of all, I'm humbled and appreciative that a few hundred people, most of whom do not know me, were supportive of my work enough to put up real money. Even though it didn't make it, New York Day reached 50% funding and twice the amount that the typical successful kickstarter project raises. I can't thank all of you enough. In many respects the project was a success.

Because even with this ending on kickstarter, the interest and attention that the campaign and videos drew are bringing new possibilities. I got into NYC today to shoot time-lapse for a documentary on the plane that went down into the Hudson River a few years in the past. That was the first big pledge that came in a few days ago. I'll also be doing time-lapse for an Intel commercial near the Flatiron building. Both of these were results of the kickstarter campaign.

It's late, and I need some rest. In a few days, I'll post an update on possible options for any supporters who are still interested in one of the rewards. For instance, if you chose a photographic print and wanted one made from New York Day or any of the images already posted, I think we can work something out. And New York Day and a Forest year could be available for download or even on dvd or bluray (with some new material as well) if enough people are interested. Again, I'll post another update with some options and get your feedback. New York Year is going to be made, it just is going to take longer; your support will still help make it possible.

The first higher level pledge should be coming in the next day, kicking the project to the 50% funded level! There are at least 3 others I'm in talks with, the combined support of which would push the funding to $23,000. As mentioned, things are up in the air as to whether all can be pledged in time (one project doesn't shoot until the summer, and paying for it all up front months before production is a bit out of the ordinary). Cross your fingers; I'm heading to NYC in the next few days to shoot one of the projects, and also to get spring shots for New York Year.

Things have really tapered off the past 10 days regarding media mentions, which in turn has dropped views of the project vids, although together they're reached 400,000 between vimeo, youtube, and other hosts. New York Year got its 200th supporter today, and topped $8,000, which is a great achievement that's well above what the average successful kickstarter project reaches, but still short of where we need to be. However, there is definitely good news potentially developing, though, that can still get us over the finish line...

I've had several inquiries and discussions with potential supporters about the higher pledge levels, both of creating custom time-lapse for other projects, and New York Day stock footage. If all the discussions bear fruit, New York Year will easily reach its funding goal, if half are, it will be close. However, b/c there's only 6 days left, it may not be possible to finalize things to get them pledged on kickstarter in time. I'm pushing as I can, and have another inquiry to field on monday, so nothing is done yet.

Many thanks to those recent supporters who keep finding the project, and of course to all of you who've been here longest. If the stars align in the coming week, you'll all have helped make a unique time-lapse film a reality. I will keep you updated as things develop one way or another.

In the meanwhile, here's a behind the scenes video I did for a Coffee farms and neotropical birds documentary a few years ago in Colombia. It was a wonderful town we filmed in, and some day I hope to make a proper documentary about this place as, in many ways, it's more interesting than the main film we produced.